


Fire in Philadelphia

by Lumelle



Series: Girls Worth Fighting For [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Childbirth, Extremis Pepper Potts, F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-27
Updated: 2015-04-27
Packaged: 2018-03-26 00:51:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3831043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lumelle/pseuds/Lumelle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>So Steve is worried, Tony is worried, and Clint just wants this whole thing to be over with. Apparently Pepper insists on taking her time, though, so it takes a while before they get to meet the new addition.</p><p>Not that it matters much, since they're all doomed anyway, because in what world is it reasonable for Tony Stark to become a father?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fire in Philadelphia

**Author's Note:**

> AU after Iron Man 3.
> 
>  **Please note** that this fic contains mentions of the risks of child birth, infant/maternal mortality, and premature babies.

Tony was panicking.

No, Clint did not think he was exaggerating. Sure, Tony wasn't screaming or something equally ridiculous, but the way he was pacing around like he was trying to wear through the floor was a definite indication of something going on. That, and the tearing at his hair. That just looked painful.

Not that Steve was doing any better, mind. He was pacing as well, steady, measured steps that were the same length every time, carrying him down the corridor until he turned around only to make his way back to the other end of his route. It was starting to get on his nerves, and Clint had made an art form out of staying still while others moved in front of him. He wouldn't have been a very good sniper if he hadn't.

"Are they trying to drive us all insane?"

Natasha, seated next to him, did not look up from the phone in her hands. "They are worried. Just because you are incapable of human emotion, doesn't mean they're not allowed to feel some."

"First, I can't believe you are calling me emotionless, and second, worried about what? I mean, I'm not exactly an expert, but from what I've understood this isn't exactly a unique event. Sure, it's the first time Pepper's ever been in this position, but I'm pretty sure there are babies born every day all over the world."

"Oh, of course they do. And despite all our advances, it still remains one of the most dangerous things most women will go through in their life." Bruce adjusted his glasses, and really, if he could be this calm, Clint saw no reason why Tony and Steve couldn't instead of going back and forth, back and forth all the damn time. "And though the risks have been lowered significantly in the last century or so, the fact remains that Tony is currently entirely helpless while the person he loves is going through something that still carries some pretty serious risks and, at the very least, is definitely painful."

"Okay, yeah, I might see your point in that." Clint nodded towards Steve. "And Cap? Please tell me there's no love triangle going on here because I'm not getting involved in that mess."

"His mother was a nurse." Natasha gave the most elegant little shrug possible. "Before the actual decline in maternal and infant death rates began in the USA. Hell, he was around when preemie incubators were still an exhibit on Coney Island rather than essential pieces of hospital equipment, probably saw them once or twice, if he wasn't in there himself as a child. I'm sure our good Captain was very aware of the risks, and just because he may know things are somewhat better now doesn't mean he won't worry."

"Right. I suppose we should be grateful Thor's off with Jane on their little trip, or there would probably be wailing on top of everything else." Clint got out of his seat, stretching himself. Just because he could sit still for long times didn't mean his body was going to be pleased with him for it. "I'm going to go get coffee. Anyone else want something?"

"I could use some tea, even though it's probably not going to be very good."

"Coffee." Ah, that was Natasha, never wasting words.

"Right. Think I should get the worrywarts anything? Having a drink might make them stop for a moment, and the floor needs a break."

"Not a bad idea." Natasha shrugged. "Just don't ask them what they want, or Tony will try to wheedle you into bringing him alcohol, and I'm pretty sure Pepper would frown at him showing up to meet his baby already drunk."

"Got it." With that, he headed off in search of a cafeteria or at the very least a passable coffee machine.

The corridors were quiet enough that he almost wondered if Tony hadn't just hired out an entire private wing instead of just getting the private waiting room with the private bedroom already waiting. At last, however, he spotted a drink machine that promised to be capable of both tea and coffee. He was rather skeptical about the quality of either one, but then, the most important thing was staying awake. Also distracting himself from the pacing, because it was starting to seriously annoy him.

Really, he should have stayed home, which nowadays was the Avengers Tower because Tony liked nothing like pushing things on people. It wasn't like his presence here at the hospital would make one lick of a difference to Pepper, and he was fairly certain they could have just called him once something actually happened. But no, he'd been all naive and actually believed Tony when he had shaken everyone out of their beds at one in the morning, announcing that the baby was just about to arrive and they should get moving, damn it. By now, night was starting to turn towards morning and they still hadn't heard of anything significant.

He did have enough social graces to know it would have been quite unacceptable for him to head home while everyone else stayed behind, and while he rarely gave a rat's ass about what anyone thought, he was kind of starting to like this whole team thing and wouldn't exactly complain if it continued. Therefore, he was going to play nice and sit back for all that his being there didn't matter on any tangible level. He could just take it as a stake-out, pretend he was waiting for a target to show up.

If this had been a stake-out, of course, he'd have at least had someone to tease at the other end of his comm link. Phil, preferably, who would not take any of his shit and was thus much more amusing than any of the other handlers. Except Phil had been recruited to be Pepper's birthing buddy or whatever after Tony got himself kicked out for freaking out one time too many. Not that Clint could exactly blame her. If Tony was this restless out in the waiting room, he couldn't imagine what he'd been like while he was actually watching Pepper be in pain.

Funny thing about Tony Stark, for such a selfish bastard he absolutely loathed the idea of his loved ones being in any kind of significant distress. So, really, he shouldn't have been so surprised at the whole worried pacing thing, except he'd thought it'd just been the worst shock and would die down as Tony calmed down. Except he wasn't calming down, not one bit, and in fact seemed to just get worse as the hours stretched on.

Perhaps it wasn't such a stellar idea to bring him caffeine, after all.

Of course, by the time Clint returned with his load of beverages, the situation seemed to have changed. For one thing, Phil was there, looking more tired than Clint had seen him in years but smiling. For another, Tony had disappeared, while everyone else seemed to be surrounding Phil with questions. Even the oh so unflappable Natasha had bothered to put away her phone and get out of her seat.

"So I'm assuming something has happened." Clint started handing out the drinks he had somehow managed to maneuver back without scalding himself at any point. "You get Tony's coffee since he's not here. Looks like you need it, in any case."

"I wouldn't complain." Phil accepted the coffee with a little nod and a smile. "And, yes, something has. Namely, Pepper has just given birth to a perfectly healthy baby girl."

"Well, that explains why Tony's gone." Also, why Steve looked so incredibly relieved and Bruce and Natasha were both smiling. "So, do we get to see the little bundle of poo and joy, or were we here strictly to provide long-distance moral support?"

Phil gave him such a look of, 'Really, Barton, grow up' that it just warmed the cold shriveled cockles of his heart. Whatever cockles were and regardless of whether his heart had any. "We'll be able to visit once both Pepper and the baby have been cleaned up and taken to a proper room. It'll have to be brief, though, as I have been reliably informed they both need some rest."

"Fair enough." Bruce shrugged, sipping at his tea before making a face at the taste. "We've waited a while already, I'm sure we can wait another bit."

Once again Clint was thankful for his patience as it seemed they were waiting forever to hear something. At last, however, a nurse showed up to take them to see the new addition to the Avenger family and the woman insane enough to actually reproduce with the aid of Tony Stark. Well, insane enough to do so without being motivated by money and fame. At least Clint was going to be sensible and assume that she could have had all the fame and money she wanted without resorting to such measures.

Pepper looked exhausted, he noted as they entered the room, each walking more silently than usual almost on instinct. Exhausted but happy, most definitely, particularly as she watched Tony. The foremost genius of their generation was standing with a kind of awed look on his face, staring down at the little thing on his arm. And, holy shit, were children actually that small? It looked more like a doll than anything. Had they given Tony a doll to practice with before letting him handle the actual baby? Surely that would have been a very sensible policy, except just then the little thing shifted a bit and broke the illusion.

Someone had indeed handed Tony Stark a baby. A live baby, who wasn't in any immediate peril needing rescue that would justify his handling of a small human child. Clearly Pepper was too medicated to make intelligent decisions right now.

Tony heard them approach and looked up, a dazed smile taking over his face. "Look," he said, an almost reverent whisper. "We made this. Well, mostly Pepper, but I did help! A bit, at least. I'm pretty sure I provided some of the materials."

"That's how it usually works, yes." Steve was all smiles now, Captain America all the way except he somehow also managed to be Steve at the same time. "Congratulations, Pepper, Tony."

The congratulations were echoed around the room as they all shuffled closer to see the baby. Well, everyone except Phil who went over to Pepper, presumably because he had already seen the baby before, but then Phil had always had rather skewed priorities, Clint found. No sense of urgency whatsoever.

The baby was indeed tiny, and also a rather weird color. Nobody else seemed too fussed about it, though, so Clint was going to go ahead and assume it was part of the process. Clint certainly wouldn't have been all that nice to look at if he'd had to make his way through absolutely any orifice.

"So." Natasha looked at Tony, and Clint could have sworn there was something soft in her gaze, which obviously was ridiculous. "Does she have a name yet?"

"Actually, yeah." Tony glanced at Pepper with a grin, getting a tired but amused snort in response. "You see, Pepper and I have been talking, and we know exactly what we want to call her." There was a slightly manic edge to his grin, but Clint figured he was allowed just this once. "Baby girl, this is the team, or at least most of it, what with Thor being out dating or something silly like that. Team, this here is her absolute highness, Philadelphia Natalia Potts."

"That's, ah." Steve blinked. "That's quite a name."

"Isn't it? We figured she needs a nice, strong name and all. Well, Pepper voted for Philippa instead, but I said she should be a place too since Virginia is a place, and besides her parents are Anthony and Virginia except not really so she'll end up with a nickname anyway." Oh, yes, definitely something a bit manic, but then Clint decided it was probably better than worried out of his mind. "So then we decided she can be Philadelphia on paper and we can use Philippa for a nickname, and then that will probably turn into Phil but that's fine since that's who she's named after anyway. Well, Phil and Natasha. Since, you know, she needs a strong name, we'll name her for the guy who just won't die and the woman who helped save my life by stabbing me in the metaphorical back and in the literal neck."

"I, ah." Well. Clint wasn't sure he'd seen Phil this flummoxed since the day he had heard Captain America had been found and might actually not be entirely dead. "I'm honored."

"You should be. I don't exactly foresee us having any more kids to name after anyone so this is kind of a unique opportunity."

"You named her Natalia?" Natasha had a somewhat strange tone in her voice. "For me?"

"Well, yes. You know, not exactly after her because you're a deceiving snake who is not who she seems to be, but, yeah, basically because of you. Seemed all appropriate and stuff."

"Actually, I'd like to interject." They all turned to Pepper, Clint silently thanking her for bringing some little voice of reason into this mess. "Frankly, I don't think Philadelphia or Philippa or even Phil sound terribly good with Potts." Pepper paused. "So I suppose she can be Stark after all."

"Really?" Tony's eyes widened to an almost comical degree, and if he hadn't been holding a very tiny and fragile human Clint probably would have tried if he could knock him over with one finger because the poor guy didn't look like he had the best balance at the moment.

"Really, Tony. And no, I'm just not too tired to make informed decisions, I've been thinking about this earlier, too." Pepper rolled her eyes, but she also looked somewhat fond. Clint supposed this was for the best, considering she'd apparently have to raise a kid with this idiot. "And yes, everyone, that does mean I agreed to Philadelphia without any mental impairment and with some time to consider it. Which might not sound very likely, but I suspect Tony is trying to posthumously annoy his father by finding some outlandish name or another and frankly the one that's mostly naming her after Phil seemed like a very sweet idea compared with some of his other suggestions."

"Oi. I resemble that remark." Tony seemed about to say something else, but just then, the baby in his arms made a small sound. As all eyes turned towards her, she scrunched up her little face and made another sound, this time even more clearly displeased.

There also was something Clint was forced to call a glow under her skin.

"Tony." Phil lifted an eyebrow as Tony rushed over to the be to deposit baby Phil in Pepper's arms. "I thought you took care of the Extremis."

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Well, I stabilized it. Not the same thing as erasing it, and, well, the kid has been linked to her system for nine months, not exactly a surprise it'd leak through." Tony shrugged, as though having an Extremis baby hadn't been a fucking big deal. "So, you know. This'll be a hell of a set of terrible twos?"

And that. That was enough. After being awake for hours and watching all that stupid pacing and not knowing exactly what he was waiting for, and then finding out there was a baby Stark of all things on the planet and clearly Thor and all his colleagues had forsaken them, and then the baby was named after Phil and Natasha except not exactly either and oh god Tony Stark and Pepper Potts had an Extremis baby who would probably blow stuff up before she was even old enough to build any bombs. This was all more than Clint could take for one night without much sleep, thank you, and if he wanted to collapse into a fit of hysterical giggles he was damn well going to do so, and frankly he doubted either Tony or Pepper would be all that offended.

The world was doomed, obviously doomed, but at least he could be around to enjoy the ride.


End file.
